Police horse recovering from injury in collision with car

A police horse is recovering from a “slight injury” sustained in a road traffic collision with a vehicle – as police appeal for witnesses or dashcam footage.

West Yorkshire Police issued an appeal for information yesterday (7 March) following the incident last Friday (1 March).

A police spokesman said the incident happened on Bradford Road, Tingley, Leeds, at 2.10pm and involved a Nissan car and Police Horse Ledston, who is based with the force’s mounted section at Carr Gate, Wakefield.

The spokesman confirmed that no people were injured in the collision. Ledston sustained a “very slight injury”, but the spokesman added that this was not anything he “won’t fully recover from”.

“Officers from the roads policing unit are appealing for anyone who may have witnessed the collision or who may have dashcam footage to contact them,” said the spokesman.

Anyone with information on the incident should call 101 or report online at www.westyorkshire.police.uk/101livechat, quoting reference 0838 of 1/3.

British Horse Society (BHS) road statistics

The society’s annual statistics showed that three people and six horses died on the road in 2023, and 94 people and 86 horses were injured. Of the 3,383 incidents reported to the BHS 85% occurred because a vehicle passed too closely or too fast.

A BHS spokesman said the figures are a “stark reminder” that road incidents involving equestrians are continuing to happen around the UK – despite the Highway Code changes in 2022. In the Highway Code drivers are advised to pass horses at no more than 10mph, and at two metres’ distance.

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